If you have read anything at all about Uruguay, the word mate (pronounced “maté”) has most probably shown up in your research. For those of you who don’t know, Yerba mate, as it is formally known, is a type of plant that in this part of the world is used to make a tea by steeping its leaves and twigs in hot water. A bit strange looking the first time you see it, it is drank out of a gourd (which comes in many different designs) with a metal straw called a “bombilla.” Drinking mate is a big part of Argentine culture and there is a whole etiquette to sharing it, but I must say I had no idea just how much more obsessed the Uruguayans are about it.

Last weekend while visiting Uruguay, I went to a Sunday market in Montevideo and found myself astonished by just how omnipresent this drink is. Much more fascinating than the vendors or their goods were all the people I passed drinking mate. Grandmothers, parents with strollers, young people, and a surprising number of men all walking the market with this ubiquitous drink in hand. I noticed how they all carried it the exact same way – thermos of hot water under one arm with that same arm holding the mate cup. The mate cups seemed a lot bigger than the ones I had seen people carrying in Buenos Aires and I wondered why, all filled to the brim with what to me looks like green grassy goop. I began to wonder how it was they shopped in a market holding all that stuff, how they didn’t spill when mate cups don’t have lids, or how they ran for a bus if need be. I guess it’s the kind of leisurely Sunday afternoon ritual that won’t involve rushing anywhere. As a New Yorker I find this cultural norm hard to imagine – not having a to-do list to pack into your Sunday?

Living in Buenos Aires, I get the impression that mate is most popular among groups of women – whether it be girls who get together to sip mate and gossip, or old ladies who make it their weekly outing to gather for tea and brag about their grandchildren. It also seems more like something people drink at home. But in Uruguay, everyone seemed to not be able to leave home without it, and I saw many groups of men walking together sharing mate. I wondered if they had all talked earlier that day and decided who would bring the mate and all of it paraphernalia, or if they agreed on who would carry it throughout the day.

Mate gourds and bombillas for sale in Uruguay

I can’t believe how widely popular a drink it is when it’s such an acquired taste (bitter and grassy) and a hassle to consume (items needed: container of the lose tea, sugar, and hot water, plus the process of assembling the ingredients). The Argentines and Uruguayans are meticulous about the methods of their mate preparation the way the Italians are about boiling water for pasta noodles. Every little detail matters, and everyone has a different opinion of how it should be done.

How can people drink so much of one thing that’s not water and how could that even be healthy? I recently saw an ad in a magazine of a pregnant women holding a mate cup. Given the tea contains caffeine I just know people back in the U.S. would probably be outraged at this publicity. But here it’s part of every day life and a staple of the culture.

I’m starting to think that the most profitable companies in Uruguay and Argentina have got to be the maté producers. It’s probably also one of the most secure businesses, in a country with very little industry, as it doesn’t look like mate drinking is going out of style anytime soon. When I headed to Playa Pocitos in Montevideo later that day, I shouldn’t have been surprised but was when I found people sipping mate in the sweltering heat and all the “agua caliente” vendors lining the beach. The thought of drinking hot tea on a hot beach day was just unfathomable to me.

While I am embarrassed to say that I have not yet acquired the taste (but am working on it), this leisurely tradition that pervades the culture of these neighboring countries continues to fascinate me.

I understand that South Americans sweeten their yerba mate with stevia…traditionally. Have you seen this?

(I believe Wisdom of the Ancients brand of yerba mate is the only one in the US to market it with stevia….)

Also, it is debatable whether yerba mate has caffeine or mateine, a xanthine similar to caffeine, but without any adverse reactions of caffeine. Some say they are structurally the same, others say they’re different. However, I think both sdes basically agree that the stmulant in yerba mate does not have the same effects that caffeine has–that there are not negative effects of it. Those who say it contains caffeine might say it is naturally caffeinated, not man-made, therefore does not effect the body like man-made caffeine, which would be in coffee or colas, for example. Anyway, pregant women and yerba mate would be a safe combo.

Thanks for your comments! I don´t think I have heard of people using stevia…not sure what that is. Most mate drinkers here just carry a tupperware of plain old sugar with them from what I have seen. I think you´re right, mate probably doesn´t contain the artificial caffeine that we normally think of. It´s maybe similar to the caffeine found in brazil in Guarana, very natural and healthy. I wasn´t thinking about how the caffeine could be natural, good to know!

Just came upon your blog, I have read some and it’s really good. I’m from Uruguay and I have not picked up the Mate obsession. I have friends and family members that drink it everyday. The caffeine in the Mate does affect people. Some get headaches if they don’t drink it often, it becomes an addiction for some and others can’t sleep after drinking it.

For some it is common to add sugar to the drink, I would drink it that way with my grandmother but here in the US I don’t drink it. Mate is becoming popular here in Austin Texas now; it is funny to me that after all this time people are picking it up here.

I was in Montevideo this past month and one of my cousins told me Mate has Mateina, I asked her what that is? Couldn’t get a good answer, her husband said that word doesn’t mean anything just a made up word.

Don’t worry if you don’t get your taste buds to like it, it won’t make you more or less Argentinean, it’s what you feel in your heart that matters.